3 Top Stocks at Half Price

You love buying your shirts when they go on sale. And who can resist a buy-one, get-one-free offer? So when our stocks go on sale, why do we bemoan their low prices?

Smart investors like Warren Buffett or Marty Whitman love it when their stocks are suddenly selling at bargain-basement prices. For them, these companies become no-brainer buys.

The investors in the Motley Fool CAPS community also like a bargain, apparently. Below, you'll find three companies whose shares are selling at least 50% below their 52-week highs, but which still earn high honors from our investor-intelligence database. Consider it a BOGO sale on stocks.

Naturally, we want you to look a bit closer at these stocks before buying. You can get low-priced appliances in the dent-and-ding section of your home-remodeling superstore, but their quality might not be so good. Same thing here: Make sure there's nothing seriously wrong with the company before you plug it into your portfolio.

Take two; they're small
While independent exploration and production energy play Crimson Exploration has been posting top-quality earnings results, industrial fire safety system manufacturer China Fire & Security didn't for its latest quarter. It missed analyst earnings estimates because revenues came in lower while expenses were higher than anticipated. It cut its full-year guidance, citing lower steel selling prices and rising costs of iron ore.

Yet that could change very soon, and if it does it would make China Fire & Security a very undervalued stock at just six times next year's earnings. BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto (NYSE: RTP), and Vale (NYSE: RIO), standing across the gateway of Chinese iron ore like Cerberus guarding the gates of Hades, announced that they will cut prices for iron sold to Chinese steel mills by 10% beginning this month.

CAPS member bofors gives a number of reasons why China Fire & Security will post market-beating results.

In short, as the Chinese government is serious about requiring industrial fire protection systems, CFSG appears to be a very safe investment given that it now available at a steep discount. It should be expect to approach $10 within six months.

Similarly, Crimson Exploration investors like CAPS member pchop123 think the markets may have overreacted to prospects in the Haynesville/Bossier shale region, perhaps thinking the last thing natural gas needs is even more supply: "Oversold & may not be a gusher, but movin on up."

A reserve player
Slumping sales and excessive exposure to credit risk have weighed heavily on the shares of electronics retailer Conn's, preventing it from gaining traction after Circuit City's demise. Contrast that with Best Buy's (NYSE: BBY) performance and you can understand the frustration investors like CAPS All-Star NechesInvst feel when they suggest that maybe a new CEO is in order. Even hhgregg (NYSE: HGG) has been able to capitalize on the situation, with its sales up 53% in the latest quarter, bolstering its ambitions to become a national retailer.

Investors remain bullish on Conn's, though, with 94% of CAPS members rating it to outperform the market and 97% of the community's All-Stars voting in its favor. Tune in to what they're saying over on the Conn's CAPS page.

Have half a mind
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